taking the long way home

beijing – sightseeing

18km

back to the “antik” market panjiayuan where 90% of the goods are fake (as we have been told). the market opens at 4.30am on weekends so if there are any bargains they are long gone when the day trippers arrive.

bejing – sightseeing

35km 81 alti meter

the park of the temple of heaven is a nice place to hang out and to watch the people practise kungfu, taichi, juggling, diabolo, dancing, singing…. or just walking backwards!? we passed the “antik” market panjiayuan and decided to come back tomorrow morning as there is just to much to see. in the evening we went to the red theater to see “the legend of kungfu” show. which was nice and touristy with playback voices in english and chinese “subtitels” on a screen.

the CCTV building

a big group of chinese cyclists on the supported tour to shanghai

beijing – badaling – beijing

we took the bus to badaling which is about 70km north east of beijing to see the great wall there. although it is called the great wall, it was almost hard to see the wall because of the masses of tourists!? alex made some great crepes for dinner back at davids place.

beijing – sightseeing

the beijing metro in rush hour is a “impressive” experience! we went to the forbidden city to see the palace museum, the gallery of treasures and the gallery of timepieces…

beijing – sightseeing

40km 109 alti meter

nice ride around town to see the tianánmen square and some hutong called districts. nice little shops, filled with “antik” instruments in one district and all kind of food / non food stores in another one. all what a tourist could want in narrow alleys.

beijing – rest day

we arrived in beijing in the morning and tried to ride to david. (a very nice and well travelled “warmshower-host”) there is a lot to see and do in bejing, so we spent the rest of the day planing the next couple days of sightseeing.